Tuesday, February 12, 2013

You Don't Work, You Don't Eat

"When
our people were fed out of the common store, and laboured jointly
together, glad was he could slip from his labour, or slumber over his
taske he cared not how, nay, the most honest among them would hardly
take so much true paines in a weeke, as now for themselves they will doe
in a day: neither cared they for the increase, presuming that
howsoever the harvest prospered, the generall store must maintaine them,
so that wee reaped not so much Corne from the labours of thirtie, as
now three or foure doe provide for themselves."

Captain John Smith (1580-1631)Jamestown Virginia

On 10 April 1606, the Virginia Company of
London was granted a charter by King James to establish a colony in
Virginia in North America.

In December three ships were dispatched with 104 settlers, including one Captain John Smith.

Establishing the colony in 13 May 1607,
they named it Jamestown, in honor of the king. It was the first
permanent settlement of England in North America.

The colony was originally governed by a council of seven men, with Captain Smith named as one of them.

They set up a common system whereby each
would work for the good of all, and each would receive what they needed
from a common store. Things did not go well, for many years. Sooner or
later, as we know and are taught by Socialism, you run out of other
people's Corne...

The colony suffered from food shortages,
unhealthy drinking water, disease and attacks by the pesky, nearby
Powhatan Indians. It was during a small expedition into one of the
Powhatan villages, in a desperate search for food, that Captain Smith
was captured. It was on this expedition that Captain Smith was saved
from execution by the daughter of Chief Powhatan, named Pocahontas, and
was released to return to James Fort. When he got back there were only
38 settlers left alive.

Smith returned in January with food sent by
the Chief, but misfortune struck and part of the fort was lost to
fire. Smith found the settlers engaged in searching for gold and idling
their time. He immediately took action.

Quickly elected president of the
settlement, Smith instituted his famous "if ye shall not worke, ye shall
not eate" edict. Success ensued, the death toll dropped, food was
harvested in abundance, a well was dug, houses were built and the
colonists made pitch, tar and soap to return to England.

Captain John Smith wrote about this turn
around in his autobiography, with one quote recorded above. When each
colonist was given his own plot of land to farm, and earn a return from,
and was forced to work for his own welfare, the profit that followed literally saved the colony from ruin.

Phillip L. Barbour, a Smith biographer,
wrote, "Captain John Smith has lived in legend even more thrillingly
than even he could have foreseen. Let it only be said that nothing John
Smith wrote has yet been found to be a lie."

This, by the way, is the same experience as
was had, and written about, by William Bradford in New England. The
story we hear about "the first Thanksgiving" is NOTHING
like what really happened. The "First Thanksgiving" was rather a
celebration of the successes of capitalism which Bradford instituted
there, as did Smith in Virginia. We know this from Bradford's own
journal! It's as if Bradford learned from the Virginia experience!

It reminds me of the sixth chapter of
Proverbs, where six different things that are hated are written about.
Look at verses 6 - 8: "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways
and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer or ruler, Provideth her
meat in the summer and gathereth in the harvest."

That's right, idlers do not contribute. In
fact, when there are idlers expecting an entitlement from the "common
store" (meaning from the work of others), everybody suffers.

The free enterprise of providing for
oneself and contributing in that way is the true principle, demonstrated
by and practiced in nature. When one is providing for oneself, there
is no need of a boss or directive telling how one must work. One sinks
or swims.

The people of Jamestown learned to develop their own capital and contribute what capital they could not simply for personal profit and gain, but for the gain, and survival, of the whole.

About Me

I'm just a self-employed American home inspector worried about the direction of our country. Specifically, my worry concerns how many Americans view free market economics, free enterprise and American capitalism - derisively! This blog is to educate and inform. And participate in the debate.